Christmas Crazy (The Thing I Love Most About Christmas)
by Joy Katie
Summary: "The thing Mary Margaret loved most about Christmas was the tinsel. And the baubles. She loved pretty, sparkly things and she always said she wanted her house at Christmas to reflect her personality. It was her Christmas crazy, something her husband had allowed and even encouraged." David wants to make this Christmas his wife's best Christmas yet. 3 Shot. AU.
1. Intro

**Christmas Crazy - (the thing I love most about Christmas)**

 **This is adapted from one of the chapters of my HG A-Z. It's also the same kind of plot ish from my SQ Christmas O/S. But I was bored one day in October and not motivated to write any of my current stories (as of October). I wrote the original in 2014 before I'd even heard of OUAT so it maybe doesn't flow as much but. AU. The second part was freshly written in October, as I'm binging OUAT for the third time, so it might be a little better. The chapters on reading are drastically different, with Ch.1 focusing on one specific Christmas (as it was previously written) and the others cover more.**

 **Thank you to oncer4life11 for helping me work out the order of the chapters, if it doesn't flow, blame her. :') I put them in order of the way I thought they should be in terms of sense, even though it may not flow in terms of the story. Saying that, chapter 2 has what could be sad or emotional etc. scene. Who knows. Maybe even trigger warning.**

 **Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy December. Blessings to all etc.**


	2. Mary Margaret

**Mary Margaret**

The thing Mary Margaret loved most about Christmas was the tinsel. And the baubles. Well, any decorations really. She loved pretty, sparkly things and she always said she wanted her house at Christmas to reflect her personality. It was her Christmas crazy, something her husband had allowed and even encouraged.

David had been out that morning and bought the tree, and Mary Margaret had spent the afternoon rooting out the decorations from the basement. He was picking up the kids from school and then the four of them were going to make the house pretty for Christmas. So what if it was only the end of November. David would agree to anything if it meant keeping the smile on his girlfriend's face.

Mary Margaret sat down in front of the fire, a box of the children's old things beside her. Inside were all sorts of items from the past eight years, from Emma's 'baby's first Christmas' decorations, to the candle from Leo's christening, held on Christmas Eve, three months after he had been born. She put the items aside, picking up more from the box. It was the matching outfits that they had worn on Leo's first Christmas; his a onesie, Emma's the same but for a toddler. She held them up to her nose and took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. They still carried a faint, Christmas, baby smell. Almost like winter spice, talcum powder.

It was hard to believe her kids were now five and seven. She had treasured every moment from when there were babies, and it wasn't like they were grown and ready to move out, hell, she was only 32 herself, but she felt them slipping away from her as they started school, found friends and became more independent. She shook her head clear of all thoughts and shoved all the items back into the box. The kids would be home any moment and David would want to get started cooking dinner.

She stood up and perused all the decorations. She had a few new ones, one Leo had made in kindergarten class a few days before, a glitter covered pinecone they had made at home one rainy Saturday, and a bone shaped ceramic decoration they had bought in memory of their dog Pongo, a rescue dog from the pound they had got last Christmas, who was hit by a car in October. It had been David who was most devastated by that though, he really was a big softie.

Mary Margaret turned around as the front door opened, sweeping her two children in to her arms as they chatted loudly about their day. They began talking louder to speak over one another, and Mary Margaret laughed, having missed her kids more than she'd like to admit. David followed them in, kissing the top of her head. When she looked up at him, he winked at her, putting their book bags down on the chair before he made his way into the kitchen.

As soon as the kids had calmed down and finished rabbiting on, she helped them remove their coats and gave them each a cookie. She told them they had thirty minutes to do any homework and then the rest of the day would be for decorating.

In the kitchen, David was pulling out the ingredients for spaghetti, but stopped when Mary Margaret joined him. He left the stove, and took hold of her hands, chuckling as he noticed her new manicure. She had spent ages that morning painting little pink snowmen, and purple snowflakes onto her silver nails.

"The kids are doing their sums and spelling until four and then it's time to spread Christmas cheer!" David laughed at the natural exuberance in her voice. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrapped cylindrical box. Mary Margaret gasped, reaching over, pausing before her fingers touched it. "What is it? David you promised me no more gifts for no reason!" However, she couldn't stop herself from grabbing it, tugging lightly at the ribbon.

He winked again, kissing her lightly, before taking the gift box back from her, redoing the ribbon, shaking his head at her protests. Mary Margaret raised her eyebrow, noticing the bottle of brandy she had been using for the Christmas cake, stood open on the counter. "Don't drink my ingredients!" She kissed him back, walking out to check on the little ones. Emma had finished her spelling, and was helping her little brother with his sums. Mary Margaret sat down next to them, ready to help if they needed it, but started drawing little Christmas trees over a blank piece of paper.

* * *

By 5:30 they had finished their homework, eaten dinner, iced some Christmas cupcakes and watched a few cartoons. It was time to decorate the house. Mary Margaret internally squealed, running her fingers over the silver tinsel. David stood the mini-thems on stools, standing behind both of them so they wouldn't fall, as they hung light decorations on the lower branches of the tree. Mary Margaret strung the lights and tinsel with precision, wanting the tree to look perfect. She was a bit OCD about the tree, and every year spent a couple of hours after the kids had gone to bed, moving some of the decorations, making it look perfect. Of course the kids were so young they never noticed.

David carried on helping Emma and Leo until the tree was finished, lifting Emma on his shoulders so she could put the angel on the top of the tree, as Mary Margaret helped Leo hang bunting over all the doorways. Mary Margaret held both of their children on her lap as David plugged in the lights, and they all cheered as the room lit up. Even the angel had a light on top of the head, which made the halo look like it was glowing.

They carried on decorating, each of them arranging and rearranging the huge array of Christmas teddies on their windowsills, spraying fake snow on all the windows and doors facing the street, and cutting out paper snowflakes with crinkly safety scissors. Mary Margaret smiled fondly as Emma helped Leo cut his.

When the little ones were tired, and all the kiddie stuff had been done, David sat with them on the sofa, cartoons on as they dozed against his side, as Mary Margaret walked around, putting the finishing touches to the house. She put out the scented candles, but didn't light them, displayed all the cards on the holder, hung the wreath and all the decorations that were two high for the young devils to reach.

She sighed in satisfaction as she looked around the house. It was perfect. The kids had even done an even better job with the tree. Leo was asleep with his head on David's lap and Emma was clearly forcing herself to stay awake, sucking her thumb as she blearily watched Mary Margaret move across the room.

"It looks so pretty momma." Mary Margaret smiled down at her eldest, lifting her effortlessly into her arms. The little blonde wrapped her arms and legs around her, gripping Mary Margaret's long dark curls in her tiny fingers. She laid her head on her shoulder and Mary Margaret closed her eyes, breathing in. Her daughter, the baby smell long gone, smelled like cookies, and a slight lavender mist that was sprayed in her room every night. David stood with their youngest still fast asleep in his arms and they walked together upstairs until they reached the end of the hall. They took their babies into their separate bedrooms, tucking them in, kissing them goodnight, and then passed each other in the hall as they went into the others bedroom, to say goodnight.

When Mary Margaret sat down on the sofa, tucking her feet up under her, it was only a little after eight. David handed her a glass of wine, turned on the TV, and turned up the fire, sitting next to Mary Margaret, tucking her into his side. She looked up at him to find him staring at the tree, which made Mary Margaret paranoid for a second, worrying she had done something wrong. She watched him as he stared, until a noise on the TV broke him out of his daze.

"I know there are like three weeks until Christmas..." Mary Margaret nodded, waiting for him to continue. "But that gift I gave you earlier... I want you to open it." This time she shook her head. "No, but sweetheart, I have Christmas sorted... I want you to open this one now."

After staring at him for a few minutes, trying to break his gaze as he stared back, she relented, moving to go to the kitchen to search for it. David produced it from behind his back, but instead of handing it to her, he undid the ribbon himself.

"Mary Margaret, you have been the love of my life for the past ten years. You have given me two gorgeous children, and you have been the perfect mother and partner. You always put everything you've got into keeping this family running, and I do not think I could live without you in my life. Will you marry me?"

With that, he opened the box, showing her a gorgeous diamond ring. She bit her lip as if she was about to cry and nodded, holding her breath as he placed the ring on her finger. She wrapped her arms around him tightly as he kissed her, lifting her into his arms.

The last thing she noticed as he carried her out of the room was the moonlight glinting off the silver baubles on the tree, reflecting the snowflakes begin to fall outside.

God, she loved Christmas. As long as she had her family, it was and always would be her favourite holiday.


	3. David

**David**

The thing David loved most about Christmas was the joy. When he was a kid it was the joy of his mother as she watched her sons open their presents, as she opened the gifts they'd given her, often homemade. As a teen it was the joy on the faces of the less fortunate as he provided them with warm meals, blankets and little toys for the children. When he was in college it was the joy of the youth choir he coached as they raised hundreds of dollars from their Christmas concert.

And since then, it was the joy of his true love, and then their children as they celebrated the holidays together. For the first few years it had just been him and Mary Margaret. He'd been embarrassed at first by how much he loved Christmas, but when she had told him on their third date it was her favourite holiday, and had demonstrated that two weeks later during the Christmas holidays, he was no longer embarrassed.

They had spent that Christmas together and then every Christmas for the ten years after it together. The Christmas after their first, they were officially in a relationship and their gifts to each other had been more than silly little 'only been on 5 dates' presents. The second Christmas was when they'd both put effort in and their effort had been rewarded. They'd decorated the house they were renting together, and David had seen how the love of his life really got when she let loose. He vowed at that time to let her go that Christmas crazy every year and decorate to her hearts content.

The next few years they did just that. For one of them she was pregnant and then every Christmas from then on, they'd had one and then two kids to get involved in the craziness. The first couple with kids were slightly subdued, Mary Margaret had decorated like usual, and they'd had presents, but they'd only really made a huge Christmas fuss when Emma was three and understood more what was going on.

Seeing his three year old little girl open her presents and smile so brightly, jumping up to hug her parents of her own volition was the highlight of David's Christmas. The next year when Leo copied his big sister and did the same was a proud moment in David's life.

When Emma had turned six she had approached her father and asked him if she would be able to choose the present that he purchased for Mary Margaret, he had instantly agreed and gone to find his partner excited to share the joy at how adorable their little girl was. Mary Margaret had laughed and informed him that she had asked her the same thing and they marvelled at what a special kid they shared.

One Christmas that gave him the most joy was the year that Mary Margaret had agreed to marry him. He kind of knew that she would not have said no to him, they'd been together for years, shared two kids and had both told the other in the past that they were _it_ for each other but it was a year to remember, especially as they had got married a month later, three days before Christmas.

David, while working as an officer of the state, also found joy in other things around Christmas. He liked to continue from the activities he did as a student, and so coached the lower school and high school seniors' choirs, and a newly developed choir made up of the other type of seniors, the elderly residents of the town they lived in. He also helped out at the local toy drive annually and during the year was involved in charity events that raised money for the orphanage that was situated just inside the town line, to allow the staff to take them on a week long holiday in December every year, to allow them to celebrate without the stigma of another holiday without parents.

The month before his daughter's tenth Christmas, she had not-surprisingly asked her parents if she could get involved in the toy drive, going so far as to state that if her parents wanted to get her any presents, they could give them to the toy drive and she asked her school to implement a program like the shoebox appeal that she had seen online, where not only would local children benefit, but children in developing countries who would not receive a gift at Christmas would too.

For the next number of years, David continued to watch his daughter thrive, not only with her studies but with her charitable heart. He knew his children were getting older and that they would not spend every holiday with them every year. Instead he found his happiness in watching them grow and achieve their dreams and bring joy to others.

When David spent Christmas with his grandchildren, he experienced a different kind of joy. The rush of love he felt for the new additions when he'd med them was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, and somehow it bought a whole new level of joy to Christmas. He loved being able to experience his daughters first Christmas as a mother, and although she was grown up and had moved out, she made sure her parents were able to celebrate Christmas like they liked to, surrounded by family.

The first Christmas that David struggled with was about ten years after Emma had moved out for college. She had moved away with the kids following her two best friends, one of which David was sure she was secretly in a relationship with, as they built their company together. She had been unable to get a flight home, and so David and Mary Margaret had enjoyed a smaller Christmas together, much like they had before the kids were born. They had taken an hour out of their intimate day together to skype their daughter and grandchildren, as well as their son later that evening, and they had watched as the children excitedly unwrapped the presents that had somehow arrived in time from their grandparents.

The Christmases after were much the same. Every so often their children and grandchildren would visit and they would celebrate together but more often than not, David and Mary Margaret found themselves alone on the holidays. Mary Margaret would always decorate and David would always spend a lot of time treating his wife, and coaching each new year of sports teams and choirs.

One thing David didn't expect about Christmas was to lose the joy. It was the year that he and Mary Margaret had been married for 30 years that they found out she was sick, just two weeks before Christmas. Of course Emma and the rest of the family had made immediate plans to return home from wherever they were. They knew it was likely to be their last Christmas together, and so they had worked fast to decorate the house, David had cancelled any plans that were made for outside the family and Emma had outdone herself with the thoughtful and meaningful presents for every member of the party. They shared a Christmas together that they hadn't had in years, everyone making an effort to make what could possibly be her last Christmas, the best one yet.

The next Christmas was his least favourite. He was glad they had made the extra effort the previous Christmas, as he was unwilling to celebrate without the love of his life beside him. He refused to decorate and did not accept any gifts, even not allowing his children or grandchildren to visit (something they ignored, not willing to leave him alone on the first Christmas after his wife had died), arguing that they needed their father as they were facing their first Christmas without their mom. It had been a quiet Christmas, with David, Emma, Leo and the grandkids, eating a meal cooked by Leo, trading happy Christmas memories instead of gifts. It wasn't until Henry announced that Mary Margaret would not want them to be spending her favourite holiday mourning her, that David finally allowed himself to cheer up, just a little. They'd gone to a carol concert being performed by all the local schools, running into adults and children that had known and loved Mary Margaret and they'd

Though it took a few years, David did get his Christmas joy back, eventually going back to celebrating Christmas in the way the matriarch of the family always enjoyed. It wasn't as grand or as festive as previous years but David found himself able to celebrate again. When his grandson introduced his first child born on Christmas Eve and named for his grandmother, David was finally able to smile again. Although he would face every Christmas going forward without his true love, he knew he would always have people around him to remind him what Christmas was all about.

His family was and always would be his greatest joy.


	4. Emma

**Emma**

The thing Emma loved most about Christmas was the presents. When she was a young child, of course it was receiving them. She loved the bright wrapping and the ribbons that her mother would let her keep and would tie into her hair throughout the year. She loved the smell of the new books that she was given every year, and she loved the Christmas tradition of new pyjamas that she would get to open on Christmas Eve to wear the next day, a tradition that her mother and brother also participated in. She knew her father adored Christmas, and he had said often enough, it made him happy when his family was happy, but he refused to spend the whole day wearing a fluffy Christmas onesie, so he would wear one for the night, but change on Christmas morning.

After she had grown up a little, she found that the thing she loved most was to choose her own presents for her brother and parents. When she was younger, the one parent would choose and buy presents for the other, and they would get Emma to scrawl her own name. Even at six she loved the idea of making other people happy with things she had chosen for them. She had picked a necklace for her mother that had both hers and her brother's names, which at the time she had thought was the best gift ever. For her father she had struggled a little, but saw an advert on TV for a watch that could be used for astronomy purposes, or as Emma described it to Mary Margaret at the time, a 'clock for seeing stars'. She had promised her mother she would keep her room extra tidy if she would pay extra to have 'To Daddy, Love Emma' engraved on the inside and Mary Margaret had readily agreed, knowing her daughter was very into doing chores at that time.

She had loved waking up on Christmas morning that year and had even demanded her parents open their presents from her before she opened any of her own in her excitement. Her parents had seemed to genuinely love the gifts she had chosen, and the feeling it had given Emma in her chest made her promise herself she would always pick the best gifts for her mommy and daddy. She had remained true to her word, even putting in extra effort for her brother when she knew more what kind of things he liked.

When Emma had turned 9 she had informed her parents that she no longer wanted presents and wanted instead for any gifts or designated money to be donated to local charities. Mary Margaret hadn't believed her until she had given all of her gifts from her birthday to the local children's hospital, and so vowed that for every birthday and Christmas from then on, she took Emma shopping with a budget for gifts and clothes to donate. She would still make sure to fill a stocking with little trinkets and small gifts for her daughter, unwilling to not provide anything for her selfless little girl at Christmas.

Working, at her own insistence, from the time that she was fifteen allowed Emma to save her own money, no longer accepting the allowance her parents tried to give her. When she wasn't working, she was studying and working with the school to implement charity drives like the shoebox appeal she had run in elementary and middle school. She had planned, with the help of her father a pen pal program to run primarily with the freshmen, with the option for the sophomores and upper classes to participate if they wished. The program had started that Christmas, with Emma managing to coincide the letters and gifts that some students opted to send, being sent to arrive in the third week of December. Though the replies took time to come back, Emma had felt a great sense of accomplishment to read the words of those her program had reached at Christmas. For the rest of her high school career and through applying to colleges, looking for courses that would allow her to travel the world and help others, she developed, with the help of a grant she won, a non-profit that benefited children and young adults in developing countries. Through her time in college and the year after she spent working for local charities, the non-profit raised money for and delivered necessary aid to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

After a few years of working and travelling for the charity, and about six weeks after she discovered she was pregnant, Emma 'gifted' the charity to two parties she knew would continue its work, her roommate in college, Regina, who'd completed her Master's and was working on her PhD in business and her best friend from her course Killian, who she'd studied with and who had shared her dreams and ambitions of helping the less fortunate. She'd decided to hold more of a backseat role with the charity, helping Regina with the paperwork and funding etc. while Killian and a group of people they knew did the provision of the actual aid.

One of the presents she was most excited to give was not a present as such. Emma had discovered that her pregnancy would hit its twelve week the week before Christmas and so planned to announce it on the day during their family meal. She'd found an idea online and so created an additional gift that would announce to her parents that they would become grandparents. When they had opened the box, David had not been able to conceal his joy, jumping up and pulling his daughter into a hug while Mary Margaret wept behind them. Years later, David had informed Emma that that year had been one of his favourite Christmases.

The year after, during Henry and Hope's first Christmas, Emma had gone overboard with the presents. Regina had been involved a great deal in the babies lives from their birth and Killian had joined them a month later after being injured while overseas. The three adults and two babies had formed a sort of family unit and for the first time, they had hosted Christmas day, inviting her parents, Regina's sister and Killian's brother, his wife and their kid. They'd gone all out for the babies first Christmas with David and Mary Margaret as well as Zelena going overboard for the twins. Emma had put great thought into each attendee's gift, knowing that the Christmas's they spent together were not going to last forever. They family made it into a three day Christmas, celebrating from Christmas Eve morning until the night of Boxing Day. The twins were passed around, games were played and Zelena spent forty minutes trying to find a platform to watch the Queen's Speech, which everyone else vehemently refused to watch. They'd eaten a meal, played games; both board and parlour and went for a walk through the park. The smaller family group of Mary Margaret, David, their kids, grandkids, along with Regina and Killian, had decided to use the 26th for a movie day and gave every little set of people a choice, leaving them with a strange collection including Bad Santa from Regina and Love Actually from Killian, movies they decided to leave until the kids had gone to bed. Emma had been taking pictures for the whole three days, knowing her kids first Christmas was one she would want to remember forever. She loved creating personalised gifts with the photos just as additional belated Christmas gifts for everyone who had celebrated with them. When Mary Margaret asked as she was leaving that night, Emma had wholeheartedly agreed that this was her favourite Christmas yet, hugging her mother tightly as she thanked her for everything they had _ever_ done for her. Mary Margaret had of course, once again started crying and Emma had rolled her eyes at her father who grinned, gathering his wife in his arms and out of the door, with a kiss to the top of Emma's head. She stood on the doorstep and waved them away, turning back only when their car had disappeared to the view of Regina and Killian each carrying one of the twins. Everyone had gone, and she was happy to spend the rest of their week off just them. She loved that her family had increased to more than just her parents and brother, now including her best friends and the true loves of her life, her babies.

The one thing Emma would never deny is that her family were and always would be her greatest gift.


End file.
